Imitation.....The GREATEST FORM OF FLATTERY........or is it just stealing?

I remember my mother telling me a few times in my music career that "imitation is the greatest form of flattery." I will be honest......I did not feel very flattered when I saw someone straight up STEALING my moves. 

Artistry is a calling.  A true artist can never be anything BUT an artist.  An artist is plugged into their spiritual center and receives information straight from God and that information comes out in whatever form of artistry we are called too.  The only thing about artistry is that you DO want to share it with the world.  However once you share it.........IT NO LONGER BELONGS TO YOU.  That is a good thing and a bad thing. 

An artist never ever wants to keep all of their artistry to themselves.  They are compelled to share it with the world.   HOWEVER, many times the world likes to take your stuff.  It's a compliment AND a curse. I know that James Brown thought that it was a compliment when every other early hip hop song was biting off of "The Big PayBack" , "JBs Monorail", "Papa Don't Take No Mess", and the hundreds of other bites to his music.  HOWEVER it was no compliment when rappers were taking his stuff and sampling without paying for the privilege.   That is called STEALING.  And there lies the very thin line that I am talking about.

Yes I am flattered when people use my powerful words to go to auditions and get roles off the power of my piece of work.  But you are stealing from me when you do that. When you come to my show and you learn all your lines from my play and you learn all the original songs from my play and then you go to your church and try to teach those songs to your musician so you can sing a song that no one else is singing...........THAT AGAIN PEOPLE IS STEALING. 

I UNDERSTAND THE PRINCIPLE of it being a compliment.  However the real deal is that when you take my stuff you are stealing from me.  When you try to act like your favorite actress you are stealing HER identity.  When you bite anothers vocal style you care stealing.  When you copy someones dance moves you are stealing. Speaking of that..........The reason why I am even on this subject today is because I saw one of Ciara's videos today ( don't ask me why I watched it) and she performed a move that I KNOW that she stole from the Striker's All Stars.  The Strikers are an all black male step team out of Florida and they appeared in the third season of America's Best Dance Crew.  They performed this move where one member of the team monkey rolled under all of the other 6 members of the team, in succession, and on beat to the music.  I have to admit that it was a COLD move.  I remember judge and famed choreographer Shane Sparks in awe of the group and telling them that he had never seen that move before. Now two years later here is Ciara biting the move.  Now I don't know if Ciara talked to the Strikers and got their permission to use the move or if they have trademarked it or whatever.  But all I know is that when I saw Ciara perform the move it just gave me more reason to NOT be a fan of hers.  To me biting is weak and it is NOT the mark of a true artist.

True artists, like myself, are inspired by other artists work.  However you will never see me taking something that someone else has done and then just copying it and calling it mine.  AGAIN that is stealing.  However a true artist will take a great idea and infuse it with their own great imagination.

So all I will say today is that stealing is a crime. 

Artists..........please take much more care with your dreams because people will steal them......be careful with your creativity because people will take it and pretend like you had nothing to do with it.

Stealers/Thieves..............you are going to have to answer for your thievery one of these days.